Caricatures

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Caricatures
can refer to a portrait that
exaggerates or distorts the essence
of a person or thing to create an
easily identifiable visual likeness.In literature, a caricature
is a description of a person using
exaggeration of some characteristics
and oversimplification of others.
Caricatures can be insulting or
complimentary and can serve a
political purpose or be drawn solely
for entertainment. Caricatures of
politicians are commonly used in
editorial cartoons, while
caricatures of movie stars are often
found in entertainment magazines.

Thus, the word
"caricature" essentially means a
"loaded portrait". According to
caricature teacher Sam Viviano, the
term refers only to depictions of
real-life people, and not to cartoon
fabrications of fictional
characters, which do not possess
objective sets of physiognomic
features to draw upon for reference,
or to anthropomorphic depictions of
inanimate objects such as
automobiles or coffee mugs.
Legendary animator Walt Disney on
the other hand, equated his
animation to caricature, saying the
hardest thing to do was find the
caricature of an animal that worked
best as a human-like character.

Some of the
earliest caricatures are
found in the works of Leonardo da
Vinci, who actively sought people
with deformities to use as models.

The point was
to offer an impression of the
original which was more striking
than a portrait. Gian Lorenzo
Bernini (1598-1680), one of the
great early practitioners, was
favored by the members of the papal
court for his ability to depict the
essence of a person in 'three or
four strokes. In fact, the word "caricature"
comes from the Italian caricare,
"to load", thus the
caricaturist's aim is to invest
his image with as much meaning as
possible.

Caricature,
therefore, experienced its first
successes in the closed aristocratic
circles of France and Italy, where
the such portraits could be passed
about for mutual enjoyment.